A disappointing year for produce

This has to be one of the worst Summers I’ve experienced since living in Scotland, incessant rain, unseasonal high winds and low temperatures (we’ve had to put our heating back on) means that we don’t really have much to show for our gardening efforts this year.

Our local Rural Produce Show at Carlops is coming up on the 20th August but I doubt we’ll have much to enter this year. I thought I’d catalogue what we’ve grown and where we are with them, it’s a sorry tale…

Eggs – down to 2 chickens after two fox attacks

Gooseberries – 2 berries between two bushes

Blackcurrants – about enough to make one pot of jam

Courgettes – doing ok – they like the rain

Potatoes – small potatoes & small crops

Rhubarb – plentiful

Apples – not a single blossom this year so definitely no apples

Salad – radishes are good, lettuces & salad leaves are ok

Garlic – usual crop, quite small

Beans – doing ok

Carrots & Parnsips – doing ok

Herb Garden – doing very well, the Mint has gone bananas

Tomatoes (indoors) – late but plentiful and starting to ripen

Tomatoes (outdoors) – not worth mentioning

Ginger – doing well

Sweet Peppers – doing ok but not ripening

Strawberries – very poor

Raspberries – the wild ones in front of the house are doing well

Chillies – smaller than usual

Looks like we’ll need to enter the baking or preserves classes if we want to get involved this year. Everything crossed that next year isn’t such a washout.